I got a check refunding my security deposit today from McKey and Poague. The downside is that this took over a month, and I had to call to remind them to process the paperwork. The upside is that they did refund my full security deposit—no deductions, no punitive actions.

Final Verdict: McKey and Poague gets 7 out of 10 stars from me in terms of how they responded to this situation. That being said, I will never rent with them again.

The situation so far: I put in an application today for a new apartment and am planning on moving this weekend. In the meantime, my legal lease with McKey and Poague for my current, roach-infested place binds me here through August 31, 2011. I submitted written notice to them on October 22 that I intend to break my lease in 14 days in accordance with tenants’ rights laws in Chicago. If I invoke that right, I can move out and cease paying rent as of November 5, 2010.

Today: I went in today (October 26) in order to discuss this situation with McKey and Poague. I suggested that instead of following a more contentious route of action we simply agree to legally terminate the lease as of Nov. 1, 2010. They agreed without hesitation.

My initial verdict: McKey and Poague is a quite decent company. They did not have to agree to legally terminate my lease and could have made this process much more difficult. But, as their agent put it, “we’d rather have you tell your friends that McKey and Poague dealt with the situation decently rather than say that we were jerks about it.” I couldn’t agree more. While I remain unimpressed with McKey and Poague’s response to the roach situation, they get an A+ on ending the lease. Truly and sincerely, Thanks to McKey and Poague.

Worse—the roaches are multiplying. I had the exterminator in today, and he gave me a bit more information about the depth of this situation. Apparently my neighbors have roaches scurrying every time they open their kitchen cupboards and other such goodies. After the exterminator was finished spraying, a group of us were talking (with the exterminator) in the hallway. As we were talking, a roach walked across the floor. Great.

I talked to McKey and Poague today again. The exterminators (AND Exterminators) did not return their calls on Friday and are not answering their phones today. According to McKey and Poague, they will call another exterminator tomorrow if AND Exterminators does not respond today.

The apartment building looks lovely, no? I too was sold when I signed my lease over two months ago. But now? We’ve been fighting cockroaches for over six weeks with little to no help from our landlords (McKey and Poague). This morning I found three more dead ones in the entryway to the apartment building (5427 S Harper):

To review a few key facts:

Our Super has known about the cockroach issue all along and done nothing.

The only reason the three above are dead rather than alive is because the tenants put down a bunch of boric acid in the hallway. So all that white powder is not from our landlord or super but from us. Our dime; our initiative.

I personally visited our landlords (McKey and Poague’s) offices last Friday morning. They claimed to be concerned about the infestation and seemed genuinely so. Granted, it is now Sunday morning, so it has been mainly over the weekend, but don’t desperate times call for desperate measures? We are in violation of city health code, and nothing is being done.

<note> the above pictures are separate from the ones a few days ago; we cleaned the lobby so as of Saturday (Oct 23) at 9 p.m. it was roach-free. Upshot: the roaches in the above pictures were crawling around and died in the last 10 hours. XQ3WK8RNA4TW

The saga of fighting the infestation continues. Shot #1 is from yesterday (October 22) evening; more dead cockroaches in the lobby—

Why are they dead? Because I put down a ton of boric acid in the lobby. McKey and Poague—where is management?

Shot #2 is from my apartment, right under the kitchen sink, found at 8:20 this morning (Oct 23)—

This one was actually still alive (see video taken by yours truly here). But it was at least incapacitated. Why? Because I have covered the area under my sink with boric acid and boric acid mixed with peanut butter—